Broken headstock & upgrades :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul [7.7 lbs]

View fullsize

Broken headstock & upgrades :: 1992 Gibson Les Paul [7.7 lbs]

Another Gibson, another broken headstock. The neck break was repaired along with an odd break in the control cavity.  While the guitar was in the shop, the player decided to make a few upgrades, including a Tonepros bridge, amber bell knobs and cream appointments (pickup rings, switch plate, output jack plate - all originally black).  The player will be swapping out the Dimarzio "Mega Drive" (DP107) bridge pickup himself for a classic '57.  In order to cosmetically match the new pickup, the player had me install a gold cover on the neck pickup.

Below is the headstock repair.  We opted for no finish touch ups, so I just wet sanded and buffed the area to improve the feel.

View fullsize

Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin [5.2 lbs] :: Dog Ear pickup adjust & setup

View fullsize

Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin P90 Cognac Burst SF [5.2 lbs] :: Dog ear P90 pickup adjust & setup

I'm a huge fan of hollowbodies and P90's.  This Kingpin came in with high action which was easy to correct via the truss rod and archtop bridge.  The non-adjustable bridge pickup riser was too high though, so much that the lowered strings were touching the pickup.  I removed the dog ear pickup mount and removed about 3/32" from the bottom and refit it to the top.  The trick is to not take too much off or the bridge pickup will not balance well with the neck pickup.

A video posted by Chubbuck Guitars (@kevin_chubbuck) on Feb 16, 2015 at 11:22am PST

Dog ear P90 high-riser :: Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin

View fullsize

Dog ear P90 high-riser :: Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin

This dog ear P90 riser is a monster! It is way too tall and really limits how low you can take the action (and how well the output balances between the two pickups). I'll need to grind this spacer down before finishing the setup.

Agile 3010 (Les Paul) [9.3 lbs] :: replaced broken humbucker ring and set up

View fullsize

Agile 3010 (Les Paul) [9.3 lbs] :: replaced broken humbucker ring and set up.

The bridge humbucker ring was blown out on the bass side of the pickup screw.  FYI - Epiphone cream curved bottom pickup rings are a near-perfect color match.